


Reverse

by Finnreyisforlovers



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Finn is a Skywalker (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-07
Updated: 2020-01-07
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22152718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Finnreyisforlovers/pseuds/Finnreyisforlovers
Summary: Finn Skywalker faces Kylo Ren on Starkiller Base after the murder of Han Solo. His cousin makes him an offer he feels Finn will be hard-pressed to refuse.
Relationships: Finn & Kylo Ren, Finn/Rey (Star Wars)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 59
Collections: Finnrey Fanfic Connection





	Reverse

**Author's Note:**

> Hi again! I have not given up on "The Girl in the Cake." It's just that the spoilers for The Rise of Skywalker came out as I was doing chapter four and I decided to put it on hold until I watched the movie. Then I watched the movie and yeah lol. I've gone back and forth about whether I will still ship Finnrey and I decided that I still can in AU and that if only Finn had been a Skywalker back in TFA and things had gone differently...
> 
> I had to get this out before I can write other Finnrey. I apologize in advance for any mistakes. I proofread as best I could. If anyone is interested in betaing me in future, please get in touch!

Finn Skywalker stared across the frozen landscape, teeth clenched. His hands hung at his sides, though one was bunched in a tight fist around a cold, metallic cylinder. Harsh breaths puffed between his lips and he tried to ignore the aching in his legs. The area was thick with trees save for a small footpath that had been painstakingly carved out of the woods.

Finn _needed_ to go forward. Forward was a must.

But there was something ... some _one_ in his way.

Blocking his path was a person. A human male – tall, looming, and imposing in all black. Wind whipped longish dark hair around a grinning face that was pale and underlain with a pain that rippled across the long face intermittently. It was ironic – had he still had his helmet, the amount of agony he clearly was in could have been hidden completely.

Finn thought he almost looked more menacing without his mask than with it – but he was sure his cousin would disagree.

Kylo Ren swung his lit lightsaber negligently, the glow reflecting on the surface of the snow.

“Are we just going to stand here looking at each other or are you going to listen to reason?”

Finn didn’t reply. He hadn’t lit his lightsaber yet. Maybe it was foolish, but despite everything that had transpired since he, his uncle, and their Wookie friend Chewbacca had set foot on the planet-destroyer called Starkiller Base, Finn still hoped to tap into Han Solo’s belief that there was some shred of humanity left in the man calling himself Kylo Ren. Finn had hoped that to be true, for his aunt and uncle’s sake, if not for the galaxy’s.

Besides, a clash at this time could seal Rey’s fate – not to mention his own.

Without turning his head, Finn saw Rey in his mind’s eye, some distance behind him. She was where he’d been forced to leave her, huddled at the base of a tree into which she’d been hurled by Kylo, at the speed of the Force. Finn had to work moisture in his mouth when he remembered the sickening crack of impact and Rey almost fluttering to the ground like a bent leaf before crumpling to the ground. Finn had barely been able to check on her vitals and determine that she was still alive before a muted hum met his ears and a gash of red light had fallen over him, casting crazy shadows on the snow.

At that moment, Finn knew that he must give his cousin his undivided attention if he and Rey were to escape.

“There’s no way out for you, except one.”

Finn was startled, wondering if his thoughts had been so plain in his face or if Kylo had gleaned them through other means. Finn could not feel his cousin through the Force – had never been able to, even in the days before he became ... _this_. Finn wasn’t sure why that still surprised him. After all, his father had once told him that blood ties didn’t necessarily lead to a Force bond. Luke Skywalker illustrated that point in a rather hesitant story about his own father, who had been unable to sense his daughter when standing less than two meters away from her.

“I can show you the ways of the Force, Finn.” Kylo spoke in a patient voice. “I can show you in ways your father never dreamed. In ways _my_ father could never understand.”

Finn grimaced at Kylo’s casual mention of their respective fathers – particularly the disparaging way in which he referred to Han Solo. Finn was thrust back in time to that awful moment, his brain playing out the scene that had unfolded minutes earlier once more:

_His uncle beseeching his son to come home with him._

_His cousin hesitating only a moment before giving his answer in the form of a lightsaber blade shoved through Han Solo’s sternum._

_The impassive look that had molded Kylo Ren’s features as Han Solo used his last moments to touch his son’s face, dead even before Kylo had shoved him into the maw of Starkiller Base._

Finn had shouted in enraged disbelief as his uncle had fallen, momentarily forgetting Rey at his side or Chewbacca nearby. He’d snapped out of it only when he was restrained by Rey from jumping onto the catwalk to challenge Kylo there and then. He wouldn’t have gotten the chance to attack his cousin anyway. Chewbacca had wounded Kylo with his bowcaster and Rey had pulled Finn out into the snow and cold once she’d realized the explosives had been armed.

They’d stumbled in darkness, both of them numb with the anguish and horror of what they’d just witnessed, getting lost in the unfamiliar surroundings, hampered by the swirling snow as they desperately sought escape. They’d gone forward, looking for a way out, as if hoping that they could somehow outrun the coming destruction.

And just when they’d glimpsed some forgotten aircraft at the far edge of the forest, a slash of unholy red light had stopped them in their tracks. Kylo Ren had, despite his injuries, been spurred on by malice and gone in pursuit, and had through skill waylay them. The battle had been rejoined then, with Kylo making the opening move, sending Rey hurtling through the air when she’d stepped forward and called him a monster.

Finn forced the memories to the back of his mind. He couldn’t let his sorrow distract him. If Han had been there, he would have said as much.

“I don’t believe that you never cared about your father, but if that’s what you want to tell yourself, I won’t stop you.”

Kylo said nothing, but there was the barest flicker of emotion that rippled across his long pallid face.

“And what about your mother?” pursued Finn, his throat tight at the thought of his aunt. “You’ve already killed her husband. You’re going to kill her brother’s son, too?”

Kylo scoffed lightly, tilting his head as if considering his words. Finn’s fingers curled more securely around the hilt of his lightsaber. He had no illusions that his cousin would listen to reason. He’d ordered an entire village slaughtered, after all, and mere minutes before had murdered his own father.

What Finn _did_ hope to find was a weakness that would allow him to neutralize Kylo for enough time to grab Rey and try to find a way out. A spare ship, a kriffing solar sailer, he’d take _anything_ that would get them off the planet and back to the Resistance base where Rey’s life could possibly be saved. Though she showed no outward signs of injury beyond the bruises on her wrists from the restraints Kylo had used on her, that horrifying crack echoed in Finn’s mind. She could be bleeding internally, which meant time was of the essence.

Kylo shook his head slowly side to side. Contemplation was over, clearly.

“This isn’t about our parents, this is about _us._ We’re the heirs, you and I, of the greatest dark Force user in history,” said Kylo in an almost awed voice. “You are strong in the Force, but your father deliberately kept you weak. He feared your power. _That’s_ why he sent you away. He blamed it all on me, but he would have sent you away, regardless, to keep you from realizing your true potential.”

Finn said nothing, but a bloom of psychic pain made him see red for a moment. It wasn’t true. He and his father had their differences, but what Kylo was saying _wasn’t_ true. It wasn’t ... _it_ _wasn’t ..._

Kylo smiled, as if sensing an advantage.

“We can rule the galaxy together, Finn. It should have been our grandfather’s, but ...”

He made a slight gesture with his free hand. Finn didn’t think Kylo was trying anything, but he created a slight Force bubble to deflect, just in case.

“On your guard? Very good.” Kylo’s smile grew. “But you can relax. I don’t _want_ to kill you. I could have done that very easily while you were distracted with the girl. Come with me, Finn. Leave the garbage picker here among the other dirt and trash. Rise with me to our destiny: the grandsons of Darth Vader taking our rightful places at the head of the galaxy.”

Kylo’s sneering dismissal of Rey made Finn frown.

“Her name is _Rey_. She’s not a _garbage picker_. And you don’t fool me – you wouldn’t have taken her if you’d thought she wasn’t of any importance.”

Kylo shrugged, then winced in pain, obviously having disturbed the wound Chewbacca had inflicted upon him earlier.

“I was curious. I saw the Falcon and I knew my father had come bumbling into something that wasn’t his concern – as usual. I was surprised to see you were with him. I had no idea who _she_ was, or what her connection was to either of you, and I really didn’t care until I saw how you moved to protect her from the First Order’s minions. ... Force, Finn, you were _beautiful_ on Takadona. So much rage. So much _killing_. You cut a swath through those hapless Stormtroopers. Their blasters and armor were no match for _you_.”

Finn felt hot anger and a more than a bit of shame when he thought of the carnage that had taken place on the verdant world of Takadona, all at his cousin’s direction. He hadn’t wanted to hurt the Stormtroopers. He was well aware they were little more than human automatons, brainwashed to kill. But they had come after him, and Han, and Rey and BB-8. There had been no opportunity to debate or plead with them. The Stormtroopers were bent on killing, and it became a matter of survival.

He had _not_ enjoyed it. Running over the broken bodies to try to stop his cousin from abducting Rey, Finn had to concentrate very hard not to get sick. First Order Stormtroopers had been snatched as children, and their broken bodies served as a reminder of the unrepentant evil of the regime.

“Yes, I grabbed her. You would never come to me willingly, and in the girl, I saw my opportunity to force your hand," said Kylo. "But I have to say, I’m a bit disappointed. I thought for you to be so attached, she must be a queen, as our grandmother was, or at the very least a princess, like my mother.”

He pulled a disgusted expression. “She’s simply a filthy junk trader. You’re a _Skywalker_ , Finn. Even your father married a Duchess. This one is a klunge who sifts through abandoned vac tubes mining for scraps. She probably doesn’t even wear gloves while rooting through the leavings of Force-knows-what.”

Finn felt anger gathering around him like a shroud. He knew this was what Kylo wanted, and he could have bitten off his tongue. He’d inadvertently given his cousin the roadmap to goad him into anger, into making a mistake. Because he was indeed attached to Rey. Ever since he’d collided with her, literally, on the forgotten desert world of Jakku, he’d felt a pull toward the young woman. It went beyond simple physical attraction, though he could admit there was some element of that, too. It was more a sense of the Force having brought them together for some purpose.

But Finn could not allow himself to think that the Force brought him and Rey together for the purpose of dying on a superweapon at his cousin’s hands.

“Her face isn’t bad,” continued Kylo, almost conversationally. “But she’s scrawny in body _and_ mind. If it’s _recreation_ you want, there are plenty of First Order officers I could introduce you to who are much more ... _substantial_ in every way.”

Finn swallowed hard. He felt a slight rumble beneath his feet. In a flash of dismay, he remembered that Chewbacca had set off the explosives that had been planted deep within Starkiller the moment Han Solo had fallen. The Resistance air assault had followed up thereafter. Finn knew what it all meant. They were almost out of time.

“Either step aside,” said Finn in a steady voice, “or I’ll go _through_ you.”

Kylo’s half-smile faded. He looked slightly puzzled.

“You’re young, but you _can’t_ be so stupid. You have to know that you weren’t meant to be mundane any more than I was. Our destiny is to _rule_. To finish what Grandfather started.”

He held a gloved hand out toward him, beckoning. Kylo's lightsaber, however, had moved the tiniest fraction upward. It was, Finn knew, his cousin’s final appeal. Another refusal, and he would strike.

Finn felt his heart sink and he sighed softly to himself, closing his eyes for a moment in regret.

 _I’m sorry, Aunt Leia. There was no other choice._

When Finn opened his eyes again, he steeled himself, moving into a slightly defensive stance.

“You’re nothing like our grandfather, Ben. And neither am I.”

Finn brought his lightsaber up and ignited it. Relaxing his body, he opened himself up to the Force. He gasped at a sensation like a small shock thrumming through him. It was like a circuit completing, making him one with the weapon.

Kylo’s hand dropped and he stared at Finn, the blueish light from Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber making his face look even more ashen.

“Traitor! That lightsaber belongs to me. As the oldest grandchild, it should be _mine_ , not yours!”

Finn took a breath. Let it out in a harsh exhale.

“Then come get it!”

But Finn didn’t wait for Kylo to come to him. He surged forward, quick as lightning, and their sabers clashed. Kylo’s face, contorted in rage, loomed above him, bring pressure to bear with his lightsaber.

Finn grimaced in pain as Kylo tried to grind him down, the crossbar of the lightsaber hot against Finn’s shoulder. Kylo was taller and heavier, and older ... more experienced. The blindingly-quick parries and retreats interspersed with sudden lunges forward appeared to Finn to be some mixture of the Juyo form that could be mastered by only the most deeply Force sensitive of beings – and some other darker, more brutal method of swordplay.

Kylo was an impressive swordsman, that was true. But Finn’s father was Luke Skywalker, the greatest Jedi master of an age and one of the best lightsaber-wielders who’d ever lived.

And Finn was _definitely_ his father’s son.

With a grunt, Finn reversed his motion and forced his swing upward, nearly knocking Kylo’s weapon out of his hands. Finn followed up with a Force push and then a vicious swipe with his lightsaber, aimed at his cousin’s arm. At the last moment, Kylo brought his hand up to block with the Force, and the blow instead caught him in the chest, right above the pectoral muscle.

Kylo hissed in pain, and the smell of burned flesh filled the air. Finn watched his cousin reel away, grimacing darkly. To his amazement, Kylo started pounding on the fresh wound. Finn felt a tiny frisson of fear. His cousin seemed to him, at that moment, just a dark smear of evil ... something not just not-human but _inhuman_.

Growling, Kylo went on the offensive again. His arm swept out and Finn felt a whiplash of energy that knocked him off his feet. Finn wavered, stunned momentarily by his cousin’s counterattack. Kylo rushed him, saber low, and Finn sprang backward on one hand, the red tip of the saber just missing skewering his innards.

Kylo grimaced impatiently and then reverted to a more straightforward style, attacking head-on with heavy, overhand blows that Finn found he was able to parry sufficiently, although it took every bit of his strength and concentration within the Force to do so. To some degree, Finn was able to anticipate his cousin’s moves. They both had been trained by the same Jedi Master, after all. But it was clear that his cousin was calling on the dark side of the Force, which gave his attacks a malevolently deadly edge.

Finn flipped away before he could be caught again by the sting of the Force whipping out at him. He misjudged the distance, however, and banged into a tree. The sudden check in momentum caused his head to snap backward. The back of his skull met the trunk with a loud thunk, and his lightsaber flew out of his grasp. Finn could only watch as it flipped end-over-end through the air to come to rest behind Kylo.

Kylo glanced back at it almost impassively, but then turned around, surveying Finn with narrowed, inquisitive eyes.

Finn forced himself to a seated position, moaning quietly, creating a Force shield to protect himself. It was his only shot to stave off a blow from Kylo while attempting to call his lightsaber to continue the fight. But the pain in his arm and head was intense, and interfering with his ability to tap deeply into the Force. His body shivered with effort, but while the lightsaber moved slightly, it did not come to him.

“All of this ... for a useless ... girl?”

Kylo breathed heavily as he advanced, nearly dragging his lightsaber in the snow. Blood dripped from the wound in his shoulder, leaving a trail of dark splotches behind him. It was clear he was significantly hurt, but he had the advantage of having his weapon, and was hemming Finn in.

“She’s _nothing_. _No one._ She has no place in this story. _Our_ story.”

Finn’s face was creased in brutal concentration. He reached out his hand, but still the lightsaber remained stuck fast in the snow. His head throbbed and he saw golden lights before his eyes. He suspected he had a concussion, but he would not allow himself to succumb. If he passed out now, it was the end.

Grinding his teeth against the pain that radiated from top to toe, Finn forced himself to his feet, ready to tackle his cousin and try to disarm him with hand-to-hand combat, if came to it. Perhaps the Force would come back to him –

Kylo looked at him, an indecent gleam lighting his eyes.

“Wait a minute ... I think I understand. You’ve _had_ her. That’s it, isn’t it? She’s already spread her legs for you.”

Finn’s eyes snapped open wide. The pain in his body and the devastation of not being able to bend the Force to his will was forgotten under the slimy impact of Kylo’s words. His breath left him in a wheeze as something deep edged with something akin to menace began to well up within him.

“Is that how she convinced you take her off that dirtball of a planet?” Kylo barked out a laugh. “Of course it is. She offered one of her holes for you to burrow into, and you couldn’t resist, could you?”

Finn’s body trembled. New sensations were filling him, blotting out the pain. It _felt_ like the Force, but a sharp-edged version ... jagged ... unspooling into him from the soles of his feet upward.

It was like nothing he’d ever experienced before ... like nothing he could quite understand.

Kylo stopped momentarily, peering uneasily at his cousin, as if he sensed something amiss. But after a moment, he pressed on.

“I should have known. What else would she have to offer”

Kylo’s gaze floated to a point over Finn’s head, and Finn knew he was looking at the tree under which Rey lay still.

“You’ve piqued my curiosity now. I had no interest in her, but after I’ve settled you and secured _my_ lightsaber, if she’s still alive, maybe I’ll sample what turned you into a fool. Maybe I’ll do it even if she _isn’t_ alive. It’ll be a way to kill time before I leave here.”

The ugly words hung in the cold air. Finn, steel-eyed, never took his gaze off his cousin. He stiffened. Finn acted on some sort of deep-seated instinct, gathering this _feeling_ deeper into himself, coiling it within him like a ball.

Kylo’s face lost its lecherous expression and his eyes narrowed, peering unsteadily at Finn.

“What ... what are you –”

Finn could feel himself levitating. Before he could be completely aware of what was happening, he had cleared the ground by a significant measure and was slightly taller than his cousin. He had no thoughts of grabbing his lightsaber, though he knew he could do so now. He had only one purpose now.

Destruction.

Finn would never know what his cousin glimpsed in his face at that moment. Whatever it was caused Kylo to try to do many things at once: take several steps back, raise his lightsaber, and prepare to block.

It was too much and too little – and too late.

With a shout, Finn gave himself over completely to the power spiking through his body. He spread his arms wide and then clapped his hands together sharply, letting the sensation roar out of him. In command, every loose piece of detritus that lay forgotten in the forest rose in concert and hurled through the air, sharpened projectiles all aimed at the sole figure of his cousin.

Kylo began to run backwards, but it was futile. He was pursued by the items that obeyed Finn’s command. A tree branch hit his hand and dislodged his lightsaber. A discarded piece of machinery smacked into Kylo’s shoulder. Another caught him on the leg. He stumbled and just managed to not be decapitated by a vicious-looking bit of machinery that looked like it had come from a decommissioned droid.

Deciding that a frontal defense was his best chance, Kylo whirled around, attempting to shield himself with the Force. His instincts were sound, as the gambit partly worked. Some of the items began to bounce harmlessly to the ground, or did not reach him at all, and he was able to keep himself from being covered. He was not, however, able to shield his entire body or completely stop the onslaught. He deflected a huge block of duracrete only to be caught squarely on the head by a heavy tree branch flecked with snow. The impact opened a gash from eyebrow to chin, blood flowing to stain the snow beneath him.

Kylo glared redly at Finn for a moment, blood in his eyes, before dropping slowly to his knees. Finn, his chest nearly bursting, stared at his cousin as he knelt, his hand to his head, pulling it away to look dumbly down at the red wetness. With a garbled moan, Kylo fell backward into the snow, made one effort to move, and then was still.

The strange edge of the Force still thrummed throughout his body. Finn found he was easily able to call his lightsaber to him, squeezing it as it smacked into the palm of his hand. The objects that had hung in suspended animation - done unconsciously by him, Finn realize - fell to the ground then.

Reigniting his lightsaber, Finn advanced toward the defenseless form of his cousin, drawing it high over his head, his teeth showing in a snarl. Blood pounded in Finn’s head interspersed with the soft whisper of a voice he’d never heard before urging him to end it ... end _him_. End Kylo Ren.

_Do it ... He’s weak, Finn ... Kill him ..._

Kylo Ren stared up at Finn Skywalker, the blood distorting his features. He coughed painfully and his eyes followed the lightsaber as Finn brought it over his head, readying to strike.

“I knew ... you had it in you ... cousin ...” Kylo’s words were slightly slurred with pain. “The darkness ... it’s within you as it is with me ... you enjoyed it ... admit it ... at least give me that much ... before you ... kill me ...”

Finn stopped. For a moment he saw the eyes of his uncle in his cousin’s face, the soft mouth of his aunt. Even the line of his jaw that reminded Finn of his own father. Of himself.

His lightsaber trembled in his grip, and he lowered it slowly. He now knew what he was feeling. It was something he'd feared his entire life. Something that had destroyed two generations of his family and was working on a third.

It was the dark side of the Force that was surging around him.

_No ... I won’t give in. I can’t give in to the dark side ... No!_

Finn shook his head almost violently. He remembered a mantra his father had his students chant to start their meditation hour. He said he'd learned it from a wise old man that he’d had the pleasure to meet only once. The wise man was not Force sensitive himself, but he'd known the Force as intimately as any Jedi. 

_I am one with the Force and the Force is with me. I am one with the Force and the Force is with me. I am one with the Force ..._

Finn mouthed the words, breathing deeply as he did so. He centered himself, fighting against the haze that grabbed at him with sharpened claws, refusing to let it take root in his soul. It took some moments, but after a time, the voice that had been echoing in his brain began to fade. The jagged tip of madness and wrath that had dug its way into him seemed to ease.

In its place flowed the peaceful strength of the Force – the _true_ Force that surrounded all living things. It was such a change from the dark, corrupted version that had filled him only moments before that Finn’s knees nearly buckled in relief.

Kylo watched him and his head lolled back. He laughed weakly.

“You can fight against it all you want, _cousin_.” He almost spat the words. “The dark side is your birthright. You’ve had just a taste of it. You’ll embrace it fully, in time. And you’ll see that I was right. Tell your father and my mother ... if you ever see them again ... that _I was right_.”

Finn was about to respond, when the ground spasmed beneath him, nearly taking him off his feet. In horror, he saw a chasm open almost at his feet. He sprang backward and nearly fell on his ass as the tremors increased.

The bombs. They were going off deep within Starkiller Base. In minutes, it would be destroyed.

Finn took one last glance at his cousin. Kylo was now on the other side of the gulf, moaning in pain. There was nothing he could do for him now. Perhaps, despite his family’s hopes, there never had been.

With no small amount of regret, but with determination, Finn turned and ran to the tree where a lone figure was still in a huddled heap near a tree. He’d wrapped her in Poe Dameron’s flight jacket to keep her warm, but it was still cold as the deepest hells on Starkiller. When he reached her, he was amazed but relieved to see that she seemed to be breathing, though unconscious.

He took her into his arms, pressing her close to him as the tremors increased and the ground cracked in various places nearby. The ships he’d hoped would be their salvation were on the side of the fissure where he’d left Kylo. He wasn’t sure he could count on the Force to navigate such a chasm for himself and Rey.

Soon the trees would start falling. There would be other fissures. They’d be swallowed or crushed or they’d disappear in the flash of brilliance that would engulf Starkiller Base and blast it out of existence.

Finn stared down at Rey’s face, brushing snow away.

“Rey ... Rey, I’m so sorry.” He sniffled, blinking away tears. “I’m sorry, Rey. I should have been here sooner. I’m sorry ...”

He closed his eyes, wondering if they were to die together, if they’d become one with the Force together. He was almost sure that the pull he felt to Rey was an indication that she, too, was Force sensitive. Perhaps death wouldn’t be so bad. He would see his mother again, and if Rey were there ...

He jerked when a bright light washed over his closed eyelids.

_It’s happening. The explosion. We’re going to die now –_

He held Rey closer and braced for the sound and then a moment of pain before oblivion. A deep roaring sound reached his ear, but it was not the sound of destruction. It was something he’d heard before, something familiar ...

Finn’s eyes sprang open when he realized what he was hearing.

The engines of a starship.

Finn gaped and then gasped when he saw the Falcon rising, the forward lights washing over them. He couldn’t see Chewbacca in the pilot’s seat, but he knew his uncle’s faithful first mate was there, and he’d come looking for them.

Carefully gathering Rey in his arms, Finn ran as quickly and carefully as he could toward the descending gangplank, resolving that if Chewie could get them away from this place, he’d do what no one in his family had ever done – to his knowledge, anyway – and kiss that Wookie right on the mouth.

* * *

Finn had to admit that Dr. Kalonia was being very patient with him.

Even after treatment for the injuries he’d sustained at Starkiller had been treated and he was given a clean bill of health, he’d remained camped out in the infirmary on the Resistance’s D’Qar base, watching over Rey.

It had been five days since Chewie, using flight maneuvers that even Han Solo would have found slightly questionable, got them back to base in record time. Dr. Kalonia and her staff had taken over from there, transporting a still-unconscious Rey to the infirmary, where her first stop was almost total immersion in a bacta chamber for a standard day. When she’d been removed and put into a biobed, her vital signs were found to be quite strong, considering. There had, miraculously, been no internal bleeding, and much to Finn’s astonishment, aside from some bruises and cuts, there had been no lasting or catastrophic damage done to her back.

But even after her removal from the bacta rejuvenation chamber, Rey hadn’t regained consciousness.

Dr. Kalonia had said it was a little too soon to worry. Rey had a slight concussion coupled with a mild case of hypothermia and the other minor injuries. It might, she said, simply take an extra day or two for Rey’s body to truly heal. Another dip in the bacta chamber would be an option if she did not awaken soon.

Finn sat on an empty biobed, gazing forlornly at Rey’s slight, still figure, clad in white. He could see her chest rising and falling with shallow breaths, which gave him some comfort, but he still worried. He’d tried reaching her through the Force, and while there seemed to be _something_ there, and Rey had stirred a little, it hadn’t really moved the needle.

He took most of his meals at Rey’s bedside, and when he wasn’t in meetings with his aunt and other Resistance leaders, he was at her side, simply waiting for her to open her eyes.

“I thought I’d find you here. This has become your second home, hasn’t it?”

Finn looked up. General Leia Organa-Solo stood in the doorway, a slightly conspiratorial smile on her face.

He smiled back, albeit somewhat guiltily. He’d not been _avoiding_ his aunt, per se. From the time he’d returned, Finn had fretted about what to tell her about Han, but as it turned out, she’d known about her husband’s death the moment it happened, the ripples of her loss echoing through the universe. But they hadn’t talked much. He hadn’t yet told her about his own confrontation with Kylo and despite Starkiller Base having been destroyed, the First Order was still out there.

Leia paused at the other side of the bed.

“How is she?”

“No change.” Finn swallowed hard. “Dr. Kalonia says if she’s still unconscious in two standard days, they’ll put her in the bacta tank again. Longer this time.”

Leia looked at her nephew in sympathetic understanding.

“Harter is one of the finest doctors I’ve ever known. She says that Rey has every chance of recovering fully. I believe that. You should, too. She’s a strong young woman. A fighter.”

Finn nodded, somewhat morosely. There was nothing to do but hope for the best.

“I sense something in her. She may be strong in the Force.” Leia smoothed a wayward tendril of hair away from Rey’s face. “It’s hard to tell when she’s like this. We’ll get a better sense when she wakes.”

“You might be right,” said Finn, studying his hands. “I don’t think it was an accident that we found each other on Jakku.”

Leia nodded and came to sit next to him on the biobed. There was silence for a few moments.

“I feel there’s something you’re holding back from me,” she said, at last, her voice quiet against the hum of the infirmary's machinery. “I didn’t want to press you, knowing how concerned you are about Rey. But after the initial briefing when Chewbacca brought you home, you’ve barely looked at me, and I’m concerned about _you_.”

He started in alarm. Leia reached out to lay a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“I hoped we could talk about it, whatever it is. Keeping it inside ... is probably not the best option. I have a feeling this has to do with B ... with your cousin. Am I right?”

“... Yeah.” He took a deep breath. “I ... I hurt Ben. Bad.”

Finn thought about telling Leia about the brush he’d had with the dark side of the Force, but decided against it. He still didn’t quite understand what happened, and he didn’t want to worry his aunt. He was sure he’d never succumb to the dark side like his cousin had. Yet, the memory of that twisted spike of power worried him. It had been so _close_... so close to the surface ... And that _voice_...

“I didn’t want to. He didn’t leave me any choice,” said Finn hurriedly, trying to bury his misgivings about what had happened on Starkiller. “He was badly injured. I left him there in the snow. I don’t ... I don’t know If he ...”

“If you’re worried that you killed him, don’t be. He’s alive.” Leia’s voice was soft. “If he weren’t, I would have ... felt it. He’s still out there, somewhere.”

She turned to face him. “But he isn’t ‘Ben.’ Not anymore. I’d hoped that Han would be able to reach him ... but I was wrong. Whatever remained of my son died long ago. Whatever you did ... sadly was necessary. It’s unlikely you or Rey would be here now if you hadn’t.”

Finn was silent. He couldn’t fathom what it must have cost her to admit that. Her husband gone, her son, too, and a galaxy at war – again. None of it seemed fair. Finn recalled a poem by a Bith poet that he’d once read about a child built for sorrow. He realized now that it was something that could have been written about the life of Leia Organa-Solo, almost from the time she’d been born.

“I don’t like what I’m hearing from one of our listening posts in the Hortolo system.” Her voice shifted into a businesslike tone. “It seems that the First Order was only mildly inconvenienced by our strike on Starkiller. They’re massing ships, apparently, on the edge of the Outer Rim.”

Finn let out a harsh breath, glaring at the floor. “Starkiller Base wasn’t put together with cracked transparisteel and Fregan gum. And they’re getting all these systems to chip in supplies and manpower? That takes a lot of credits. Where are they getting the funding? The support?”

“I have my suspicions about the factions that might financing all of this. Brendol Hux, the First Order’s founder, had his fingers in a lot of pies, even dating back to Imperial times.” Leia’s eyes narrowed. “The warlords didn’t exactly go into retirement when the Empire fell, and many of them had deep pockets and long reaches.”

She paused.

“And that brings me to what I wanted to discuss with you. I had wondered if ... _hoped_ ... you would go and talk to Luke.”

Finn’s head jerked upward.

“What? But ...”

“I know that the way you two left things weren’t ideal. But we need him, Finn, and you’re probably the only person who could sway him to return. Rejoin the fight.”

"I ... I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ready to see _him_.” Finn’s head dipped. “He wouldn’t talk about Mom ... after. Not even to mention her name. No pictures ... nothing. Then he sent me here to you and Uncle Han as if he couldn’t even stand to look at me.”

Leia placed a hand over his. “Finn, I know he hurt you, but it was never _you_ he was running away from. You have to understand that. Breone was the love of his life. He was devastated and scared. B– my son destroyed everything Luke held dear. Luke was terrified that he’d come back and finish the job and destroy you, or worse, turn you into the ... thing he’s become."

Finn was quiet for a long moment, weighing this. He remembered his cousin’s offer to “teach him the ways of the Force” and shuddered.

“Why didn’t _he_ tell me this instead of just sending me away and going off to ... just be by himself?”

“When I see him, I’ll ask. Because you’re right. He _should_ have talked to you. He _should_ have explained. I plan on giving him royal hell about it.” A small smile lifted her lips. “Think about it, Finn. If you’re up to another mission, this could be the one that turns the war in our favor.”

She squeezed his shoulder and then rose, casting a fond glance at Rey before exiting.

Finn sat for a long time, just thinking, replaying all that had been said, wondering if after six years he could face his father again. He was so lost in thought that he almost missed when Rey stirred on her bed.

Finn got to his feet, his heart going like mad. 

"Rey? Can you hear me? Rey?”

He held his breath and waited.

No answer.

His shoulders drooped. It had just been, like his earlier attempts to reach her through the Force, a false alarm.

* * *

Finn stretched his arms over his head and yawned. It had been a long day, though it hardly seemed like it was time for bed. He’d spent a few more hours in the infirmary before finally being shooed out by Dr. Kalonia. He’d visited a while with Poe and BB-8 in the hangar and had been introduced to Rose and Paige Tico, sisters who had joined the Resistance the year before. A quick meal in the canteen and a few meetings to discuss strategy and upcoming supply runs, and the day was pretty much at an end.

On the way to his room, he’d felt a strange sensation ... almost like something pulling at the base of his brain. But the feeling did not last, and Finn assumed that he was simply tired from what had turned out to be a trying day.

He had just removed his shirt and was climbing into bed when a strangely metallic sound came from behind him. It took him a moment to realize it was someone _knocking_ at his door.

“Uh ... yeah?”

The door slid open, and C-3PO, the rather fussy protocol droid that had been in his family for generations, stood in the entryway, his ungainly golden arms akimbo.

“Threepio? What’s going on?”

“My apologies for disturbing you, Master Finn, but I was asked to fetch you to the Infirmary at once.”

_Rey._

Finn’s heart was in his mouth. “W-what’s wrong? What’s happened? Rey—”

“Yes sir. Mistress Rey has awakened. She is extremely agitated,” said Threepio, waving his hands around in a somewhat distracting manner. “She seems to believe Dr. Kalonia was telling a falsehood when she informed her that you were alive and well and here on base. Dr. Kalonia does not wish to sedate her, so they felt it might be prudent if—”

Finn was moving before the sentence had even been finished, breaking out into a run once he’d swerved around Threepio who was still, for some reason talking at his back.

Rey was awake.

She was awake and afraid he’d died.

She was awake and worried about him.

Rey was awake.

_Rey was awake!_

He was out of breath by the time he reached the Infirmary, belatedly realizing he’d forgotten to put a shirt on. Finn briefly considered going back to get one when he heard a distressed voice from within.

“... If he’s okay, where is he? Why won’t you let me see him?”

“Please calm down, Rey. Threepio has gone to get him. He should be here very soon—”

Finn made a noise of dismissal. _Kriff the shirt_.

He burst in, looking eagerly at Rey’s biobed. His heart pounded fitfully when he saw her sitting up with Dr. Kalonia and two nurse droids at her side.

“Rey!”

She turned and he saw the wetness on her cheeks and slightly reddened eyes. Her grief-stricken expression morphed into one of astonishment, and then joy.

"Finn!”

He rushed to her, not able to reach her fast enough, or when he had her in his arms, hold her close enough. She clung to him, seemingly saying something, making sounds he couldn’t quite understand. It was a few moments before he realized that the noises she was making against his skin were sobs.

Finn stepped back in alarm, releasing her with alacrity.

“Sorry, sorry ... was I hurting you?”

“No! I just ... I was so sure you were dead!” She sniffled, wiping her nose on the edge of a bedsheet. “I ...”

Her voice trailed off as she took in his shirtless state. Sudden color rushed to Rey’s face. She looked up at him, eyebrows high.

“Uh ... I was about to go to bed.” Finn felt his own cheeks burn. “I could, uh ...”

A nurse droid pressed something into his hand – a short robe that belted at the waist. Finn nodded his thanks, wrapping himself in it, but still feeling somewhat embarrassed to have burst into a sickroom half naked.

Rey studied him. “I like the robe, but I wasn’t complaining, you know ...”

Finn was dumbfounded for a moment, not sure how to respond to _that_. She laughed quietly.

“I was _kidding_ , Finn. Well, sort of. I can’t believe you’re here.” She reached out to take his hands in hers. “You’re really all right?”

“I’m here. I’m all right. And you’re awake.” He squeezed her hands gently. “Rey, I was so worried ... we all were.”

“What happened? The last thing I remember was the snow of Starkiller and the forest I thought ...” Her eyes filled with tears again. “I thought you ...”

Quickly, Finn filled her in on what had happened after his cousin had injured her, leaving out Kylo’s crude – and incorrect – insinuations about the nature of their relationship and the dark edge of the Force that had allowed him to best his cousin.

Finn watched her turn pale and red in turns. She winced at some parts of his story, listened with somber attention at others.

“I remember when he blocked our path,” she said, when Finn had finished speaking. “He pushed me into the tree ... with his powers. I think, at first, I was more stunned than hurt, and then I fell to the ground. _That_ hurt.” Her voice was rueful. “I could hear you calling to me ... I couldn’t open my eyes or talk. I tried, but I couldn’t. And then I heard that sound ... I knew he was there, and he’d turned on the lightsaber.”

She swallowed hard. “I was sure was about to kill us. I blacked out completely, then. When I woke up, I remembered up to that point. I had no idea where I was, but I remembered that _sound_. Dr. Kalonia was here and she explained to me that I was on D’Qar and I’d been unconscious for days. I had no idea how I could have gotten here, and she said Chewie brought me. I remember that Han hadn’t ...” Rey’s voice wavered. “And then I noticed she didn’t say anything about _you_. Just that Chewie brought _me_ here. And I was scared ... I was so _scared_ ...” The tears started again.

“It’s okay. I’m here now.” He brought his lips to her forehead in a gentle kiss. “And we’re safe ...”

He swallowed down the _for now._ There’d be plenty of time to worry later.

“Dr. Kalonia said you’ve been here every day,” said Rey, looking up at him. “Now that I know they were telling the truth about you being all right, I think I could _feel_ that ... somehow. Even though I couldn’t hear you, or see you and I didn’t know if you were alive or dead ... I could feel you with me. I know that must sound insane.”

Finn shook his head.

“Before we got lost in the forest, you told me that you were able to push Ben – Kylo – out of your mind. And that you were able to just tell those guards to release you.” He paused. “I think you have the ability to use the Force, like I do and my aunt does.” He let Kylo’s capabilities in that regard go unspoken.

Rey was wide-eyed. “ _I_ have the Force. _Me_?”

“You.” Finn smiled. “When you’re feeling stronger, we can talk about it a little more.”

He thought about the earlier pull at his brain, and wondered if it had been the Force making him aware that Rey had awakened. And then there was Rey’s comment that she could sense him there at her side, even while nearly comatose ...

It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her that he suspected they had a Force bond, but he held it in. That might be a little _too_ much for her to take in just now, and he wasn’t even sure himself if it were true or what it might mean.

“I’d like that,” said Rey, breaking into his thoughts. “Dr. Kalonia says that I’ll probably be ready to leave here in a couple of days.”

“Great.” Finn waited a moment. “Maybe, ah, when you’re up to it, we can also talk about whether you’d feel like being my co-pilot on a trip to Ahch-To. Or my pilot, actually. I’m a little rusty, and Chewie's great but he can get grouchy on long trips.”

“Ahch-To? I’ve heard of it. In the Unknown Regions, isn’t it?” Rey frowned at his nod of confirmation. “What’s there?”

“My father. I have to talk to him. It’s ... important. And I’d like you to go with me.”

“You want to take _me_ to meet Luke Skywalker?” Her mouth fell open. “ _The_ Luke Skywalker?”

“He’s not a myth, I promise,” he said teasingly.

And, maybe, Finn reflected, recalling his aunt’s earlier words, his father wasn’t a monster, either.

“So, you’ll think about it? Going with me, I mean?”

“I don’t need to think about it.” Rey reached for his hand again. “If you want me there, of course I’ll go.”

He looked down at their intertwined fingers, remembering when she’d offered him a hand up on Jakku. It seemed so long ago, but it had only been days earlier ...

Finn stifled a yawn. He was about to suggest that he return in the morning when, with a somewhat exasperated grin, Dr. Kalonia pushed the empty biobed on which Finn had kept vigil slightly closer to Rey’s, pointing to the blankets and pillows there.

Finn and Rey looked at each other and then at the doctor, beaming their thanks.

After a time, they fell asleep side by side, their hands clasped together.

Before leaving the infirmary in the care of her two nurse droids, Harter Kalonia checked on her overnight guests, her face softening in understanding and approval. Removing a large blanket from a supply closet, she spread it over the sleeping pair and dimmed the lights before quietly taking her leave.

End

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Any feedback welcome. I really hate that there was no Kylo and Finn rematch. Finn would have kicked his ass!


End file.
